Skills Development Sending Data to Clay via Webhooks

Sending Data to Clay via Webhooks

v20260423
clay-hello-world
This comprehensive guide demonstrates how to integrate external applications with the Clay platform using webhooks. Users learn to send raw data (such as company domains or lead information) via API calls in multiple popular languages (cURL, Python, Node.js). Clay automatically processes this data through configured enrichment columns and returns enriched, structured results. This is essential for building robust data pipelines and testing webhook setups.
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Overview

Clay Hello World

Overview

Minimal working example: send a company domain to a Clay table via webhook, let Clay's enrichment columns fill in company data, and retrieve the enriched result. Clay does not have a traditional SDK — you interact with it via webhooks (data in), HTTP API columns (data out), and the web UI.

Prerequisites

  • Completed clay-install-auth setup
  • Clay workbook with a webhook source configured
  • At least one enrichment column added to the table

Instructions

Step 1: Create a Clay Table with Enrichment

In the Clay web UI:

  1. Create a new workbook
  2. Add columns: domain, company_name, employee_count, industry
  3. Click + Add at bottom, select Webhooks > Monitor webhook
  4. Copy the webhook URL
  5. Add an enrichment column: + Add Column > Enrich Company (uses the domain column as input)

Step 2: Send Your First Record via Webhook

# Send a single company domain to your Clay table
curl -X POST "https://app.clay.com/api/v1/webhooks/YOUR_WEBHOOK_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain": "openai.com"}'

Within seconds, Clay creates a new row and auto-runs the enrichment column. The company_name, employee_count, and industry columns fill in automatically.

Step 3: Send Multiple Records

# Batch send — each object becomes a row
for domain in stripe.com notion.so figma.com linear.app; do
  curl -s -X POST "https://app.clay.com/api/v1/webhooks/YOUR_WEBHOOK_ID" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{\"domain\": \"$domain\"}"
  echo " -> Sent $domain"
done

Step 4: Send from Node.js

// hello-clay.ts — send records to Clay via webhook
const CLAY_WEBHOOK_URL = process.env.CLAY_WEBHOOK_URL!;

interface LeadInput {
  email?: string;
  domain?: string;
  first_name?: string;
  last_name?: string;
  linkedin_url?: string;
}

async function sendToClay(lead: LeadInput): Promise<Response> {
  const response = await fetch(CLAY_WEBHOOK_URL, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify(lead),
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`Clay webhook failed: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`);
  }
  return response;
}

// Send a test lead
await sendToClay({
  email: 'jane@stripe.com',
  first_name: 'Jane',
  last_name: 'Doe',
  domain: 'stripe.com',
});
console.log('Record sent to Clay — check your table for enriched data.');

Step 5: Send from Python

import requests
import os

CLAY_WEBHOOK_URL = os.environ["CLAY_WEBHOOK_URL"]

def send_to_clay(lead: dict) -> requests.Response:
    """Send a lead record to a Clay table via webhook."""
    response = requests.post(
        CLAY_WEBHOOK_URL,
        json=lead,
        headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
    )
    response.raise_for_status()
    return response

# Test it
send_to_clay({
    "email": "jane@stripe.com",
    "first_name": "Jane",
    "last_name": "Doe",
    "domain": "stripe.com",
})
print("Record sent to Clay — check your table for enriched data.")

Error Handling

Error Cause Solution
404 Not Found Invalid webhook URL Re-copy URL from Clay table settings
422 Unprocessable Invalid JSON payload Validate JSON structure before sending
Row appears but no enrichment Enrichment column not configured Add enrichment column in Clay UI, enable auto-run
429 Too Many Requests Exceeded webhook rate limit Add 100ms delay between requests
Webhook limit reached (50K) Webhook exhausted Create a new webhook source on the table

Output

  • New row(s) visible in your Clay table
  • Enrichment columns auto-populated with company/person data
  • Console confirmation of successful webhook delivery

Resources

Next Steps

Proceed to clay-local-dev-loop for iterating on enrichment workflows locally.

Info
Category Development
Name clay-hello-world
Version v20260423
Size 4.62KB
Updated At 2026-04-28
Language